Our Executive Director

Sharon Gleason Jenkins, CFRE, ACFRE, Ed.D.

With 25 years’ experience in sales, charitable development, marketing and communications for nonprofits and associations, Sharon Gleason Jenkins has expertise leading, managing and growing organizations of all sizes.  Sharon is a change-agent with a specialty forging innovative cross-sector strategic partnerships with corporations, governments, nonprofits.

Sharon has run marketing and development at Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, responsible for generating $7 million of the organization’s $10 million annual budget and strategically positioning the organization for the future of personalized medicine and professional development for scientists, medical doctors and technologists. Sharon has worked for and served in senior executive leadership positions for the Armed Services YMCA, National Council on Aging, Girl Scouts, American Red Cross National Headquarters, Federation of American Scientists, City of Hope National Medical Center/National Cancer Institute, National Association of Manufacturers, Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker’s National Commission on Public Service. In the past decade, she has more than doubled the philanthropic and association income of several organizations she has worked for.

In addition, Sharon Chairs Community Bridges, an organization supporting k-12 girls who live below the poverty line.  She has served on CB’s Governance, Finance and Development Committees over the last 6 years. Sharon created and Chaired Herndon Voices, a Political Action Committee, which elected the town’s first female Mayor and most diverse Town Council since Herndon founding in 1858. She serves as the Audit & Grievance Chair of the CFRE International Board of Directors, where she is serving her second, internationally elected, term as a board member. She also serves on the following AFP International Board Committees, Government Affairs, Finance, Marketing & Communications. She has served on the Fairfax Democrats Finance Committee and as a grassroots volunteer for the Obama campaign in 2008 and 2012.

Sharon earned her Ed.D. in Leadership and Learning Organizations from Vanderbilt, M.Ed. in Psychology from Harvard, a M.Sc. in Economics from London School of Economics, and a B.A., Political Science from the Johns Hopkins University. In addition, Sharon has completed executive business leadership and strategy programs at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business.